A Wombat has taken up residence under my power generation shed and I have suffered his existence even though he has dug and clawed through the entire subfloor area around stumps and under the adjacent bathroom .

Besides it has a low floor and there was no way I was going to crawl round on my belly trying to turf him out or so I thought . I heard an ominous water hissing sound coming from under the toilet pan right in the middle of the whole shebang and in the most inaccessible area imaginable , there was nothing for it but to crawl under through the Wombat's own entrance and see what was happening .

Snake hole .JPG (206.65 KiB) Viewed 1888 times

Five odd metres flat on my belly though this !

Snake hole 2.JPG (161.59 KiB) Viewed 1888 times

I found the leak and returned with the pipe joiner and tools and braced myself for another ' Great Escape ' experience , then there in the gloom I saw what I thought was the pipe , that is until the pipe moved and came towards me ! I froze , then gingerly and very slowly turned the torch slightly to illuminate the ' pipe ' , there not two feet away and looking directly at my horrified face, tongue flicking ,body slightly coiled , eyes bright in the light of the torch ,was the biggest Tiger snake I have ever seen . Fat and sleek from a Spring spent eating the rats and mice that seem to find this building irresistible. Curtains I thought , a snake that size would deliver such a load of venom that I would have less than a hour's grace , this coupled with the exertion needed to extricate myself from underneath the building and the inevitable panic would ensure that I was incapable of movement within twenty minutes . To add to the horror there was also the knowledge that the venom delivered or even spat into an eye would lead to certain and permanent blindness.Then a Christmas miracle occurred , I swear it winked at me before it slowly backed away , two souls , neither wanting to die just at that moment reached a consensus and went on their own separate ways .

I gave thanks and backed out carefully , the entire time hoping that there were no ' Family members ' behind me .

Yet there was still the problem of the water leak , it took more than a few drams of Scotch to steady the nerves until I could summon the courage to re enter the sub floor and fix the leak .

Bloody Wombat , the offending hole looks as if it was made with a tool , such is the size and strength of their teeth .

Wombat bite.JPG (176.52 KiB) Viewed 1888 times

So a timely reminder to not get annoyed and blunder about with eyes closed like Hiawatha , especially in this season .